More than three dozen reporters and editors at the Los Angeles Times have reportedly been banned from covering Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza and war with Hamas after they signed an open letter condemning “Israel’s killing of journalists” and calling on newsrooms to refer to Israel’s actions as a “genocide.”Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Semafor reported on Thursday that the “staffers who signed the letter have been told by the paper’s management that they will not be allowed to cover the conflict in any way for at least three months.”While Semafor reported that nearly a dozen journalists at the newspaper had signed the letter, Los Angeles Times reporter Suhauna Hussain said the real number was actually closer to “more than three dozen.”“Yes it’s true we’ve been taken off coverage, which in effect removes a great many Muslim journalists and most of not all Palestinians at the LA Times from coverage,” she wrote, adding that it was “not true or at least not clear signing letter is a violation of LA Times ethics policy.”Hussain continued, “If anything, it reinforces policy by calling for unbiased coverage—no language prohibits signing letters & policy has not previously been used to discipline in this way to my knowledge,” before concluding that the letter — which has been signed by more than 1,200 journalists — was “straightforward” with its call for an end to the “killing of journalists” and “for fair, accurate, non-racist coverage of Palestinians.”At least 35 journalists have reportedly been killed as a result of Israel’s bombing campaign and war with Hamas. This week, the International Federation of Journalists condemned “the killings and continued attacks on journalists,” and called for “an immediate investigation into their deaths.”On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said the conflict had been “the deadliest month for journalists” since it “began gathering data in 1992.”Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com

Source: Los Angeles Times November 17, 2023 18:19 UTC